4 



Green Manuring. 



In some other experiments the quantities of bacteria- 

 infected earth applied ranged from half a ton up to one-and- 

 a-half tons per acre, and the results were equally marked ; 

 but, as M. Grandeau admits, there are many questions as to 

 the influence of the inherent fertilising qualities of different 

 soils, as to the effect of this or that leguminous plant, 

 and as to the quantities of earth to be employed for 

 purposes of inoculation, which require continued investiga- 

 tion. Nevertheless the value of the process seems to be 

 sufficiently established, and it may be adopted by practical 

 men, especially as it it involves but slight expense, and its 

 results promise to be most advantageous to agriculturists. 



Experiments can be made in two ways : — isr, by broad- 

 casting some hundredweights of earth taken from land that 

 has yielded a good leguminous crop, upon the field which is 

 to be sown with leguminous plants. 2nd, by watering the 

 field with water which has been in contact with earth from land 

 which has yielded a good leguminous crop. 



There is yet a third method of inoculation, namely, by- 

 means of the preparation known as " Nitragin/ 1 to which 

 M. Grandeau does not allude in the Etudes Agronomiques. 

 This, however, appears to be even more simple and 

 economical than either of the methods described by him,, 

 and it only remains to ascertain its actual value from 

 the results of various experiments which are being con- 

 ducted by scientific agriculturists in this country, and 

 by investigators and cultivators in Germany. (i Xitragin " 

 is the pure culture of the nodular organisms found on 

 the roots of leguminous plants ; the method of obtaining 

 these was discovered by Dr. Xobbe, of Tharand, in 

 Saxony. The culture is placed in a bottle containing 

 a nutrient solution, as agar gelatine, upon which it grows, 

 and the bottle is hermetically sealed and kept from the 

 light. " Xitragin " can be obtained in this condensed bottled 

 form, derived from the nodules of several species of clover, 

 lupins, beans and peas, tares, lucerne, sainfoin, and other 

 leguminous plants, and suitable for application in order to 

 promote and stimulate the growth of crops of the same 

 species as that from which it was evolved. If this new and 



